Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Today the Senate Republican Caucus
distributed the following press release:

Senate
Republican Caucus Files Major MBTA Reform Package

Bill Creates
Finance Control Board and Other Tools

Boston-
Responding to weeks of repeated performance failures by the MBTA and partner
Keolis Commuter Services, the Senate Republican Caucus has filed legislation
today that will provide several tools for the beleaguered public transportation
system that will financially stabilize the MBTA and restore public confidence in
the system.The bipartisan measure
authored by the caucus would create a fiscal recovery trust fund, require the
Secretary of Administration and Finance to identify funds to assist the MBTA,
and would create a new seven member MBTA finance control board that could
ultimately be dissolved in favor of a receiver that would take over the board’s
responsibilities as a last resort if sufficient progress hadn’t been made.

“Arctic
temperatures and unprecedented snowfall totals has only exasperated the issues
currently hampering the MBTA and commuter rail services,” said Senate Minority
Leader Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester).“This
legislation seeks to address the underlining problems that have been going on
for years to address the needs of the public in order to create a world-class
public transportation system that they deserve.”

The
responsibilities of the MBTA finance control board/receiver include:

Securing
financial and performance stability of the MBTA;

Implementing
fiscal controls;

Implementing
uniform budget and planning guidelines and procedures for all departments;

Executing
capital budgets and borrowing authorizations to finance or refinance any
debt;

Maintaining
authority to appoint, remove, supervise, and control all MBTA employees
and personnel matters;

Developing
a long range plan for MBTA financial and structural sustainability; and

Requiring
the filing of a quarterly report to the House and Senate Committees on
Ways and Means detailing how any expended loan funds were used in the past
quarter.

“For
years I have been calling on the MBTA to fund necessary maintenance over costly
expansion. The consequences of their decisions and fiscal mismanagement have
been on full display, it is time for a new direction,” said Assistant Minority
Leader Robert Hedlund (R-Weymouth).

“The
legislature cannot sit idly by as commuters continue to feel the pain of a
failed public transportation system that they depend on day in and day out to
get to work, home, school, and other appointments and destinations,” said
Senator Tarr.“The Senate Republican Caucus
has offered a very reasonable, commonsense approach to the long-overdue issues
that have been plaguing the public transportation system for years.”

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Welcome to Tarr Talk, which is created to offer you convenient access to information about state government, public policy, and important events that are shaping the future of our state. My staff and I are working to give you timely insights into the issues faced by the legislature and the events that relate to these issues. I hope that you find this site to be a valuable resource, and that you'll visit us often for a view of what's happening on Beacon Hill and beyond.

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6 Manuel F. Lewis St.Gloucester, MA 01930

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